Chapter 6

**Flashback**

"No, Rosa! I almost jumped when he asked me to come to the party. What if I embarrass myself in front of him?" I asked.

"Oh, come on, Scarlet. You've had a crush on Sam for forever! Now is your time to show him who you truly are!" Rosa said, putting on a glossy lipstick. She looked so pretty I wondered if any guy would even look at me with her in the room.

"Yeah, who I truly am? A loser?" I asked her, scanning my clothes. I literally had nothing to wear.

She walked to the wardrobe and picked out a shiny red dress with strap sleeves, which was long enough to brush my knees, and handed over to me.

"This," I said, raising the dress, "is not me. You know I am not comfortable in short dresses. How do you wear them anyway? Aren't you afraid, a little movement and they will reveal all of you, making the purpose of covering your body futile!"

"My dear sister," she said, inhaling deeply, and I rolled my eyes. Here comes the sisterly lecture. "First of all, a dress doesn't define you, it makes you look good. And even though this red dress is not you, you have to wear this to get Sam. You always roam around in full skirts and jeans, no wonder Sam—or any other boy for that matter—hasn't noticed you. Today, at that party, wearing this, you will surprise everybody, and believe me, there will be a line full of guys dying to talk to you. But you, my friend, will choose Sam. That will make him feel all the more special." She said.

"You do have everything figured out, don't you?" I asked through the mirror as I tried to picture myself in the dress.

"Hey! Don't interrupt!" She cried. "And, yes, I do have everything figured out. And to answer your second question, no, I am not afraid if the dress will give away my body, because a) dresses don't and b) even if they did, it's only good stuff under there so why be ashamed?" She said and winked. She could say all this so casually I wondered why didn't I ever got such confidence.

"Now, before I drag you with a towel, go get changed fast!" She ordered and I ran to the bathroom. One thing I learned in these fifteen years was Rosa always did what she said, no matter how crazy or unbelievable it might sound.

One time, our pervert biology professor smacked her chest to seemingly 'demonstrate' that her cleavage was showing and school was a formal place, so such 'revelations' weren't in keeping with the 'formal' environment of the school. Angry, Rosa decided she would take her revenge in a way the professor never saw coming.

Indeed, a few days later, she literally walked across the class full of students and kicked the professor in his groin, saying his fly was open and 'such revelations weren't in keeping with the formal environment of the class.'

No one ever dared to mess with her or me ever again. The perks of being the best friend and sister of Rosa Gill.

As we walked into Sam's house, the aroma of booze and food wafted to my nose, attracting and distracting me from the place altogether. Attracting, because, hey, there was booze! And distracting because, dude, there was booze! And drunk people.

The people danced around in the corner, and already drunk, Ria was dancing on the kitchen platform on the song Do Me Good. No wonder the guys were cheering all around her. I looked for Sam, who indeed was looking for someone.

I turned away blushing and smoothed down my dress. As I turned back again, I saw him turn towards us, and his eyes twinkled. He walked towards us, and I asked my heart to calm down.

"Hey Rosa, hello Scarlet." He called in his sexy voice. He had brown eyes and brown hair, bringing the color of his eyes. He was the best athlete of the school and what made me head over heels for this guy was that he wasn't a player like his other teammates, who changed girlfriends more often than they changed their uniforms. No wonder they stunk.

"Hey, Sameer," I called.

"I'll be back." Rosa excused herself, and after going a short distance, turned to wink at me. Sam saw her of course. Thanks, Rosa!

He turned away, ignoring her, and smiled at me.

"You look really good." He said, scanning me up and down, and I tried to hide away my blood rushing to my cheeks.

"Um, you wanna go grab some beers?" He asked in an attempt to dismiss the awkward silence.

"Yeah, sure." I agreed.

As he handed me the beer bottle, he said again, "so tell me, if you don't mind, what's the deal with Rosa? Like, I know she broke up a month ago with Ash, who I think was a big ass, and I learned few other guys too asked her out, but she rejected them saying she needed time to get over her break-up. So is she over it yet?"

"And you are asking this because..." I asked him, already knowing what he was going to answer.

"You are a smart girl, of course, you've figured out by now I am crazy about her."

"Yeah, sure." I said, trying to hide the noise of my heart crushing.

Of course, no matter how small dress I wear or how much make-up I do, Rosa would always be the boys' first choice. Literally, every guy in my high school had a crush on Rosa at least once in their life. And this wasn't the first time the guy I liked liked Rosa instead. Probably that's why he invited me to the party, because he knew if I didn't come, than neither would Rosa. And I won't lie, these moments made it very hard to love my sister, but still, she was my sister. I loved her despite these asses.

"No, she is over Ash because, as you said, he was a jerk. And she turned those guys down because they were jerks and too boring for her."

"So, do you think I have a shot?"

Shot? Dude, she is going to turn you down because I have a crush on you, I thought. Though I felt sorry for Sam because it wasn't his fault that I had a crush on him and he genuinely seemed to like Rosa a lot. Though I let myself feel the guilty pleasure that he wouldn't get her.

"Yeah, definitely. You should try it." I said.

"Thank you so much." He said, almost hugging me, "I am glad to have you as my friend. See you around I guess." He said, and off he went to impress Rosa.

I am glad to have you as my friend. Yeah, the friendzone for Scarlet Gill!

I walked over to the bar and asked for two tequila shots, throwing the liquid down my throat all at once.

"Oops! Someone is taking their rejection badly." A guy standing next to me said. He had blue eyes and deep eyelashes. Seeing such an angelic face with such an attractive body, I had to stop my hands from going over to feel his muscles.

I composed myself and said, "Excuse me?"

"I saw what happened. I saw you enter with your friend. I saw your crush walk over to you. And then I saw your crush confessing he had a crush on your friend. And something tells me this is not the first time." He said, and his voice was the sexiest I had ever heard.

"What are you? An angel in disguise to help a damsel in distress?" I asked, throwing back another shot.

"Ooh, I was going to go for 'an admirer,' but yours sound much better." He said grinning, and God, I fought the urge to kiss those beautiful lips.

"Admirer? Of my friend over there?" I asked, nodding towards Rosa.

"No." He said, looking deep into my eyes, and I could've sworn the floor tilted under my feet.

"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked.

"Why?"

"Um, because I had my birthday last week?"

"Then you owe me a party." I said and then turned to the bartender, "two more shots, please. And make the bill in the name of this guy." I nodded towards him.

He chuckled. "What's your name?" He asked.

"Scarlet."

He turned to the bartender.

"Give whatever this beautiful lady Scarlet asks you to, the entire party, and make the bill in my name." He said to the bartender.

"Someone's loaded. So what is the name of my rich benefactor?" I asked, trying to flirt back.

"Rover." He replied.